# Zendesk Alternatives 2027: 11 Paid, Free & Open-Source

Source: https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/zendesk/
Prices checked: 2026-11-11 (Zekai Price Ledger)

The best Zendesk alternatives in 2027 are Intercom (best overall, $19/seat/mo), Help Scout (best free plan: 5 users, 1 inbox) and Chatwoot (best open source, MIT). Zendesk itself starts at $19/agent/mo billed yearly. Zekai checked these prices on vendor pages on 11 Nov 2026; 8 more are compared below, including 3 with a free plan and 2 open source.

| Tool | Type | Starting price | Free plan limit | Licence | Best for | Price checked | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zendesk (the tool being replaced) | — | $19/agent/mo billed yearly | No | — | — | 2026-11-11 | [pricing](https://www.zendesk.com/pricing/) |
| Intercom | Paid | $19/seat/mo | No free plan | — | AI-agent-first support inbox | 2026-11-11 | [site](https://www.intercom.com) [pricing](https://www.intercom.com/pricing) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/intercom/) |
| Freshdesk | Paid | $19/agent/mo billed yearly | No free plan | — | Per-agent helpdesk with AI add-ons | 2026-11-11 | [site](https://freshdesk.com) [pricing](https://www.freshworks.com/freshdesk/pricing/) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/freshdesk/) |
| Help Scout | Free plan + paid | $25/user/mo | Free: 5 users, 1 Inbox, 1 Docs site | — | Shared-inbox support for small teams | 2026-11-11 | [site](https://www.helpscout.com) [pricing](https://www.helpscout.com/pricing/) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/help-scout/) |
| Jira Service Management | Free plan + paid | $21.50/agent/mo | Free forever for 3 agents | — | IT and internal service desks on Atlassian | 2026-11-11 | [site](https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/service-management) [pricing](https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/service-management/pricing) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/jira-service-management/) |
| Salesforce Service Cloud | Paid | $25/user/mo | No free plan | — | Case management tied to Salesforce CRM | 2026-11-11 | [site](https://www.salesforce.com/service/) [pricing](https://www.salesforce.com/service/pricing/) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/salesforce-service-cloud/) |
| HubSpot Service Hub | Free | Free plan; paid price not published | Free for up to 2 users | — | Support tickets inside HubSpot CRM | 2026-11-11 | [site](https://www.hubspot.com/products/service) [pricing](https://www.hubspot.com/pricing/service) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/hubspot-service-hub/) |
| Front | Paid | $25/seat/mo billed yearly | No free plan | — | Shared inbox for email-heavy teams | 2026-11-11 | [site](https://front.com) [pricing](https://front.com/pricing) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/front/) |
| Tidio | Free plan + paid | $24.17/mo | 50 billable conversations a month, 10 agents | — | Live chat and chatbot for small shops | 2026-11-11 | [site](https://www.tidio.com) [pricing](https://www.tidio.com/pricing/) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/tidio/) |
| Chatwoot | Open source | $19/agent/mo (Cloud) (hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | MIT | Open-source omnichannel support inbox | 2026-11-11 | [site](https://www.chatwoot.com) [pricing](https://www.chatwoot.com/pricing) [code](https://github.com/chatwoot/chatwoot) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/chatwoot/) |
| Zammad | Open source | Free (self-hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | AGPL-3.0 | Self-hostable ticketing with hosted option | 2026-11-11 | [site](https://zammad.com) [pricing](https://zammad.com/en/pricing) [code](https://github.com/zammad/zammad) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/zammad/) |
| osTicket | Open source | Free (self-hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | GPL-2.0 | Classic PHP ticketing on your server |  | [site](https://osticket.com) [code](https://github.com/osTicket/osTicket) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/osticket/) |

## How each alternative compares with Zendesk

- **Intercom** (Paid, $19/seat/mo, checked 2026-11-11): Prices its Fin AI agent per outcome, from $0.99 each, and also sells Fin standalone with no seats required, so the AI agent can sit on top of another helpdesk. Switch if you want the AI agent billed per resolved outcome and may keep another helpdesk for tickets. Stay with Zendesk if you want AI agents, messaging and telephony bundled into a single per-agent suite price.
- **Freshdesk** (Paid, $19/agent/mo billed yearly, checked 2026-11-11): Its Freddy AI Agent includes the first 500 sessions on every plan, then charges $49 per 100 sessions; the Freddy Copilot add-on is $29 per agent on Pro and Enterprise. Switch if you want AI sessions billed in blocks per 100 rather than per automated resolution. Stay with Zendesk if you need the Suite plans that already bundle AI agents, messaging and telephony.
- **Help Scout** (Free plan + paid, $25/user/mo, checked 2026-11-11): Has a free plan for up to 5 users with 1 inbox and 1 Docs site, and charges its Envoy AI add-on $0.75 per resolution with a monthly spending cap. Switch if you are a small team that wants a shared inbox and a knowledge base at no cost to start. Stay with Zendesk if you need telephony and multi-channel messaging inside the same suite as the ticketing tool.
- **Jira Service Management** (Free plan + paid, $21.50/agent/mo, checked 2026-11-11): Free forever for 3 agents, and Standard includes Rovo agents with 250 Rovo credits per user per month; built around IT service requests in the Atlassian stack. Switch if your agents already work in Jira and Confluence or you run IT and internal service requests. Stay with Zendesk if your tickets come from external customers on chat, social and voice rather than internal requesters.
- **Salesforce Service Cloud** (Paid, $25/user/mo, checked 2026-11-11): Five editions from Starter Suite at $25 to Max at $550 per user per month; Agentforce for Service is sold separately and paid on Flex Credits in higher editions. Switch if your customer records already live in Salesforce and you need case management on the same platform. Stay with Zendesk if you want a published AI-resolution price and a lower step between plans than Salesforce editions.
- **HubSpot Service Hub** (Free, Free plan; paid price not published): Free tools plan for up to 2 users; AI agents run on HubSpot Credits at $0.010 each, and Professional carries a required one-time $1,500 onboarding fee. Switch if you already run marketing and sales in HubSpot and want tickets on the same contact records. Stay with Zendesk if you want a helpdesk with no mandatory onboarding fee and no credit-based AI metering.
- **Front** (Paid, $25/seat/mo billed yearly, checked 2026-11-11): Starter is capped at 10 seats, Professional at 50; its Autopilot AI agent starts at $0.39 per conversation and Copilot costs $20 per seat as an add-on. Switch if your support runs mostly through shared email inboxes with collaboration between teammates. Stay with Zendesk if you need more than 50 agents on a mid-tier plan or a phone channel in the same suite.
- **Tidio** (Free plan + paid, $24.17/mo, checked 2026-11-11): Priced by billable conversations rather than seats: Free covers 50 a month and 10 agents, Starter 100; Lyro AI Agent is an add-on from $32.50 per month. Switch if your volume is low and you would rather pay by conversation count than per agent seat. Stay with Zendesk if you have many agents or high ticket volume where conversation-based caps would be reached quickly.
- **Chatwoot** (Open source, $19/agent/mo (Cloud) (hosted), checked 2026-11-11): MIT-licensed self-hosted inbox with live chat and email; the hosted Hacker plan is free for 2 agents and 500 conversations a month, paid Cloud plans start at $19 per agent. Switch if you want to self-host a live-chat and email support inbox under a permissive MIT licence. Stay with Zendesk if you want vendor-run AI agents, telephony and compliance features without operating servers.
- **Zammad** (Open source, Free (self-hosted)): AGPL-3.0 ticketing system with Docker, Helm and DEB/RPM install paths; hosted plans run EUR 7 to EUR 25 per agent per month billed annually, and there is no free tier. Switch if you need a self-hosted ticket system you can run from Docker or Kubernetes with optional paid support. Stay with Zendesk if you want a managed suite with built-in AI agents and no servers or backups of your own to run.
- **osTicket** (Open source, Free (self-hosted)): GPL-2.0 PHP and MySQL ticket system that runs on an ordinary web host; it is a plain ticketing tool and its repo does not describe built-in AI agents. Switch if you want a free, plain ticket system that runs on a standard PHP and MySQL web host. Stay with Zendesk if you need AI-drafted replies, chat widgets and automation without building them yourself.

## Open-source options in detail

- **Chatwoot** (https://github.com/chatwoot/chatwoot): Licence: MIT
- **Zammad** (https://github.com/zammad/zammad): Licence: AGPL-3.0
- **osTicket** (https://github.com/osTicket/osTicket): Licence: GPL-2.0

## Questions

### What is the best alternative to Zendesk in 2027?
Intercom is the best overall Zendesk alternative on this page ($19/seat/mo). For no cost, Help Scout has a free plan (Free: 5 users, 1 Inbox, 1 Docs site). To self-host, Chatwoot is open source (MIT).

### Is there a free version of Zendesk?
No. Zendesk has no free plan; paid plans start at $19/agent/mo billed yearly, checked on 11 Nov 2026.

### Is there a 100% free alternative to Zendesk?
Yes. Chatwoot, Zammad, osTicket are open source and free to self-host. Help Scout, Jira Service Management, HubSpot Service Hub, Tidio have a free plan with limits, shown in the table.

### How much do Zendesk alternatives cost for a team of 5?
If each of 5 people buys the entry paid plan, at the prices Zekai checked on 11 Nov 2026, the monthly cost is Intercom $95/mo, Freshdesk $95/mo, Chatwoot $95/mo, against Zendesk $95/mo for Zendesk. Team and business plans can cost more per seat. The Zekai Cost Finder on this page recalculates for any team size.

### Which is better, Intercom or Zendesk?
Prices its Fin AI agent per outcome, from $0.99 each, and also sells Fin standalone with no seats required, so the AI agent can sit on top of another helpdesk. Choose Intercom if you want the AI agent billed per resolved outcome and may keep another helpdesk for tickets. Stay with Zendesk if you want AI agents, messaging and telephony bundled into a single per-agent suite price.

### Why are people leaving Zendesk?
The documented reasons are: Zendesk bills AI agent resolutions on top of seats: each plan includes 5 automated resolutions per agent per month (10 on Suite Professional), after which committed resolutions cost $1.50 and pay-as-you-go $2.00 each (11 Nov 2026); Zendesk's Copilot add-on costs $50 per agent per month billed annually and Contact Center $83; the included Copilot allowance is 5 uses per agent, pooled and capped at 500 uses per instance each month (11 Nov 2026). Each is sourced in the section above.

### What is better than Zendesk?
It depends on the job. Intercom suits AI-agent-first support, Freshdesk is the closest like-for-like helpdesk, Help Scout fits small shared-inbox teams, and Jira Service Management fits internal IT service desks.

### Is Zendesk worth it compared with Freshdesk?
Both start at the same annual per-agent price. Zendesk bills AI resolutions per automated resolution, while Freshdesk includes 500 AI sessions on each plan and then sells blocks of 100.

## Related on Zekai

- [Intercom alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/intercom/)
- [AI for Customer Support & Experience](https://zekaiwork.com/professions/ai-customer-support-experience-automation/)

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Live table, team cost finder and price alerts: https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/zendesk/